Mali’s interim president Dioncounda Traore has been beaten and hospitalised after hundreds of protesters stormed his palace to demand his resignation.

Residents say insurgents are besieging Timbuktu as they take their fight for a homeland for the nomadic Tuareg to one of the last government holdouts.

Mali’s army has abandoned bases around the northern town of Gao to rebels while the leaders of a coup faced a deadline to start handing back power.